Join us for an in-depth session on the California Native Seed Strategy, highlighting efforts to improve the availability and use of genetically appropriate native seed for restoration and stewardship.
SESSION CHAIRS Genevieve Arnold1, Naomi Fraga2
1Theodore Payne Foundation For Wild Flowers & Native Plants, Sun Valley, CA, United States. 2California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, United States
Genevieve Arnold
Theodore Payne Foundation For Wild Flowers & Native Plants
Genevieve Arnold is the Seed and Conservation Program Manager at Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants. With more than two decades of experience in California native plant conservation and horticulture, she oversees a regionally focused conservation seed bank that supports the production of locally sourced native plants, as well as a nonprofit retail seed program that helps the public create sustainable, ecologically grounded garden spaces. Her work includes collaborative seed banking and conservation efforts at regional and statewide levels with a focus on rare species conservation, public education and fostering resilient, interconnected landscapes that support healthy ecosystems within the built environment.
Naomi Fraga
California Botanic Garden
Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at California Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA. Her research interests include plant geography, conservation biology, rare plants of western North America, and taxonomy of monkeyflowers (Phrymaceae). Naomi hold a Ph.D. in Botany from Claremont Graduate University. In 2023, she received the Peter Raven Award from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. In 2021 she was awarded the Center for Biological Diversity E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation and the Center for Plant Conservation Star Award. Naomi serves on the board of the Southern California Botanists, Treasurer for the Amargosa Conservancy, and is chair of the Public Policy Committee of the Botanical Society of America.
29.1 Utilizing Federal and State Grants to Help Solve the Source Identified Native Seed Bottleneck in California
Pat H. Reynolds
Heritage Growers, Chico, CA, United States
Description Heritage Growers, a venture of River Partners, is a non-profit organization that has secured several federal and state grants to research techniques to produce source-identified native seed and to provide that seed to improve habitat restoration outcomes in California. These grants, obtained from diverse agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Wildlife Conservation Board and others utilize wildland seed collections either provided by these agencies or collected by Heritage Growers Wildland Seed Collections team to grow out a wide array of ecotypes and species to help solve the source identified native seed bottleneck that is currently limiting the quality and quantity of habitat restoration projects in California. This presentation will describe the processes that Heritage Growers is using to collect, grow, and store restoration appropriate seed at scale, the techniques that are being researched, developed, documented and shared and how these actions are improving restoration outcomes in California.
Presenter Bios
Pat H. Reynolds
Heritage Growers
Pat Reynolds is the General Manager of Heritage Growers, a non-profit source identified native seed and plant producer that is a venture of River Partners. Pat has more than 30 years of habitat restoration experience in the design, implementation, and monitoring of habitat restoration projects. He uses his diverse in-depth experience in the habitat restoration and native seed sector to manage the production, sales and distribution of Heritage Growers' large-scale restoration appropriate native plant materials operation.
29.2 Seeds for the People: Overcoming Capital-Intensive Barriers to Conserving Native Plants with DIY Seed Processing Tools
Patrick G. Emblidge
Mojave Desert Land Trust, Joshua Tree, CA, United States
Description Growing and multifaceted anthropogenic impacts threaten California’s native plant communities through changes in land use, climate, species composition and fire risk. To address these challenges, conservation seed banks have developed throughout the state to preserve the biodiverse flora that provides immeasurable value to wildlife and human residents alike. To support our desert ecosystems, the Mojave Desert Land Trust operates the Mojave Desert Seed Bank, a conservation seed bank with the long-term goal of conserving the entire flora of the Mojave and Colorado deserts within the state. A major component of seed banking is processing collected material into clean seed. This can be an inefficient process if done by hand, or prohibitively expensive if done with specialty equipment. Conservation seed banks across California can advance the work we do and reduce the financial barriers to success by sharing processing methods that save time and money. We have designed a relatively simple do-it-yourself (DIY) seed extraction tool that we call the ‘Seed Squeegee’. Here we provide an update on the work of the Mojave Desert Seed Bank, review open source seed cleaning tool designs, demonstrate the Seed Squeegee build and discuss how to prioritize seed cleaning equipment purchases given a limited conservation budget.
Presenter Bios
Patrick G. Emblidge
Mojave Desert Land Trust
Patrick is the Plant Conservation Program Manager at the Mojave Desert Land Trust, leading the work of the native plant nursery and seed bank. He is an ecologist with a passion for understanding and conserving the flora, fauna, and habitats of arid lands. He has studied Gila monster habitat suitability and thermal ecology in the red cliffs of southwestern Utah, researched desert tortoise movement ecology and contact networks in Nevada and California, studied restoration and native vegetation of the shrub-steppe, and managed acoustic data for the Northwest Bat Hub.
29.3 Seed Bulking in Order to Increase Available Supply of Seeds for Restoration in the Mojave Desert Ecoregion
1California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, United States. 2Aspen Environmental Group, Upland, CA, United States. 3Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs, CA, United States
Description Working in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), California Botanic Garden (CalBG) worked to establish a seed bulking experiment for five forb species native to the Mojave Desert. Seed bulking is a commonly used technique to increase the availability of seed for restoration. It can especially be useful for species that do not yield large quantities of seed in collections from wild populations. The target species for this project were perennial forbs from which large quantities of seed have been previously difficult to attain in the wild (10-80,000 seeds), including: Abronia villosa var. villosa (desert sand verbena), Acmispon rigidus (desert lotus), Mirabilis laevis var. retrorsa (wishbone bush), Stephanomeria pauciflora (wire lettuce), and Xylorhiza tortifolia (Mojave woody aster). While the project was successful at developing initial propagation protocols for six species (more than the targeted five), it only generated a modest amount of seed from five species (3,000–40,000 seeds). The next phase of the project includes evaluating the viability of the seeds through germination tests and comparing genetic diversity of wild populations versus the first generation of seed produced. Our initial results indicate that an iterative approach towards improving seed bulking methods is needed to increase seed quantities. As we move into the next phase of the project, we hope to share our results to inform best practices and to ensure high quality seed is produced in the seed bulking process.
Presenter Bios
Daniela Garcia
California Botanic Garden
Daniela Garcia is Restoration Technician at California Botanic Garden. She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2023 with a degree in Biology. She has been working at the Garden Botanic Garden since 2023 when she started as an Intern in the Conservation Program. Daniela's focus at the Garden has been on seed bulking projects in addition to other restoration activities.
29.4 Amp It Up! Small-Scale Tabletop Native Seed and Bulb Amplification Techniques
1Marin Headlands Native Plant Nursery, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, San Francisco, CA, United States. 2Presidio Nursery, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Description Unlike large-scale seed and bulb production operations that require significant funding and initial propagule quantities, we focus on in-house “tabletop” propagule production methods that achieve high yields while maintaining genetic integrity. We’ll share step-by-step rationale, processes, and supply lists that have been developed over the last 15 years in the Golden Gate National Parks that attendees can apply to their own propagule production.
Our small-scale seed amplification uses mosquito netting, organza bags and framed “seed hammocks” to capture and harvest seed. Amplified seed species include Castilleja exserta (San Francisco owl’s clover), Trifolium depauperatum (cowbag clover), Nuttallanthus texanus (Texas toadflax), and Cryptantha leiocarpa (coast cryptantha).
Using a similar tabletop setup for bulb and corm production, we can grow and harvest bulbs in our greenhouse for optimal size and viability. Amplified bulb species include Allium dichlamydeum (coastal onion), Dipterostemon capitatus (blue dicks), Triteleia laxa (Ithuriel’s spear), and Toxicoscordion fremontii (death camas).
Presenter Bios
Clint Espejo Josol
Marin Headlands Native Plant Nursery, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Clint Josol has been a Nursery Technician at the Marin Headlands Native Plant Nursery for the past three years, where he helps grow native plants primarily for habitat restoration projects throughout Marin and San Mateo Counties. He studied Botany at San Francisco State University. He is filled with gratitude to be a part of the ongoing efforts to remediate the damaged and altered lands surrounding him and to be fighting the good fight with a wonderful community of like-minded colleagues and volunteers alike.
Miya Stephanoff
Presidio Nursery, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Miya has worked at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Nurseries for the past two years and is currently a Nursery Technician in the Presidio. They love learning about all the ways people have been and continue to be in relationship with the natural world, using that knowledge to explore new methods.
Annette Dumont
Presidio Nursery, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
For the past 15 years, Annette has been fortunate to work with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Nurseries doing what she loves: working with plants and people in a beautiful and inspiring setting.
29.5 Scaling Up While Staying Local
Julia Michaels, Joshua Scoggin
Hedgerow Farms, NativeSeed Group, Winters, CA, United States
Description There are hundreds of native species used in restoration in California, and for each of these species, many locally-adapted ecotypes. As demand for native seed increases across the state, seed producers must prioritize which local ecotypes to target for wildland collection and amplification. In this presentation, we draw on lessons learned from 40 years of native seed production to show how growers can take a proactive approach to meeting demand for local ecotypes. This approach includes (1) closely tracking state and federal funding to anticipate future demand for ecotypes, (2) working with scientists to develop a list of ‘priority’ species that have high likelihood of exhibiting genetic variability across ecotypes, (3) planting on farmland across a range of microclimates, and (4) working with the California Crop Improvement Association to increase standards for local ecotypes.
Presenter Bios
Julia Michaels
Hedgerow Farms
Julia Michaels completed her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis where she focused her research on strategies for restoring native California vernal pool wetlands. She is currently the Restoration Ecologist at Hedgerow Farms, and President of the California Native Grasslands Association.
Joshua Scoggin
Hedgerow Farms
Julia Michaels completed her PhD in Ecology at UC Davis where she focused her research on strategies for restoring native California vernal pool wetlands. She is currently the Restoration Ecologist at Hedgerow Farms, and President of the California Native Grasslands Association.
Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!
Giant Sequoia
Special thanks to Esri, our 3-time Giant Sequoia Sponsor, for making this movement stronger than ever!
The mission of the California Native Plant Society is to protect California’s native plants and their natural habitats, today and into the future, through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy.
DateSaturday, February 7
